I think Microsoft has stoppte selling XP as of June 30th but I've heard that Dell are still offering it though possibly not pre-installed. I'm sure that there are still other sources.

TP looks like the upgrades does not link,
i think this one is good value and spec,
the higher the spec the more you pay

for this sys 3 start here the do the ups and lose the screen,

Elite Q9300 Pro (PCA) (includes upgrades - click to view)
607.45 + vat



System Base
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Quad Core Processor(2.5GHz,6MB Cache,1333MHz)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition with SP 1
New MESH Midi-TowerATX Case + 550W PSU
PCI-Express Mainboard - Core2Duo/Quad Core/Penryn ATX
4GB DDR2 800MHz Memory (2x 2GB)
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer [upg 60.00]
Blu-ray ROM Player Dual layer DVD Writer 24 x CD Writer
512MB nVIDIA GeForce 9600GT - Dual DVI, HDTV, TV Out
Without 22" Widescreen Monitor [upg -90.00]
5.1 High Definition onboard sound card - 6 Channel Cinema sound
Logitech S220 - 2.1 Speakers with Subwoofer
Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Cordless Optical Mouse
Free Microsoft Works 8.5 + Limited Microsoft Office Trial
Free Cyberlink Video Editing Suite - 7 titles (oem)
Assassin's Creed - Ubisoft, PC, DVD-ROM Game
Multi-format Memory Card Reader (ATX)
1 Year Hardware Warranty - Back to Base (UK Mainland only)

Thanks scussy, but over the top for my needs.

TP

good graphics card and cpu

MESH Pulse 8400
525.00 +vat



Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor(2.4GHz,8MB Cache,1066MHz) [upg 10.00]
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition with SP 1
Aluminium ATX Midi Tower + 550W PSU [upg 30.00]
SLI nForce 650i SLI(C55) - Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad-Core - ATX
2GB DDR2 Memory - 667MHz
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer [upg 60.00]
LightScribe Super Format 20x Dual Layer DVD Writer +R/-R/RW/RAM
512MB nVIDIA GeForce 9600GT - Dual DVI, HDTV, TV Out
Without 19" Widescreen TFT MESH Monitor [upg -75.00]
5.1 High Definition onboard sound card - 6 Channel Cinema sound
Logitech S220 - 2.1 Speakers with Subwoofer
Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Cordless Optical Mouse
Free Microsoft Works 8.5 + Limited Microsoft Office Trial
Multi-format Memory Card Reader (matx)
1 Year Hardware Warranty - Back to Base (UK Mainland only)

Thanks scussy.

I understand the Mesh builder now. I'm starting to get choice overload now and I fear that we are boring the others to death with all these specs! Can we just address the special issues.

For example, Optimist, would putting two 500 gig disks into a machine, with the intention of one mirroring the other, really achieve a great deal.

I'd have felt that (a) the mirroring would use up quite a bit of processing speed. But also (b) if one disk catches a bug or gets a damaged registry surely it will instantly migrate to the second one. So the only real benefit will be if one gets a bad sector that brings the operating system down and the other one has no damage.

Or are there other benefits?

TP

double.

Optimist,

You asked about video editing - but you might have meant video converting.

Anway here is a site for converting and you can work back to the similar one for editing.

I'll come back with any other links that my photo chums suggest.

TP

TP.
Lots of shops on ebay selling XP(new,unregistered)for about 80.

TP

Thanks for the link. It looks interesting I'll study it later.

Opt,

Can you share your wisdom on that mirror query msg 6984. May have got lost in the clutter of all those specs!!

TP

TP

There are two main ways of combining 2 discs.

One is to split the databetween both discs. This will speed up access to larger files, but doubles the risk. If you lose one disk, you lose the lot.

The other is to mirror the data accross 2 drives, which should enable recovery in the event of one disk failing. The problem is that in the event of a fault, the rebuild has to be done while the system is at least partially active and I've heard reports of it taking days on some systems. That is not to say that all systems are as slow (the theoretical time to copy 500GB is under 4 hours) but it needs looking into in advance.

You are correct in assuming that no RAID setup will protect against software or virus induced problems - the only way to do that is by usig a seperate backup and good practises.

I doubt that the performance hit would be significant with a mirrored disk (except for rebuild time) but bear in mind that a decent RAID card will cost hundreds and the motherboard manufacturers add it on almost for free.

Opt,

"but bear in mind that a decent RAID card will cost hundreds "

Thereby hangs the catch. Just putting two 500 gig drives into one of scussy's Mesh jobbies will not work. It would need an extra card as my guess is that none of the motherboards Mesh are using will supply free RAID.

EDIT. Here is one.

TP

TP

....as my guess is that none of the motherboards Mesh are using will supply free RAID

No that may not be the case. Mesh appear to be using reasonable motherboards although possibly not the latest. They will most likely support mirrored RAID (although I haven't checked). My point is that the way the motherboard manufacturers implement it, is essentially in software and costs them nothing therefor they offer the feature but it will not compare with a decent addon card.

TP

The Mesh example you give demonstrates my point.

I looked into the NVidia RAID solution when I was setting up my RAID 5 machine it appears to be a partial hardware implementation, I found too many refferences to people having problems especially rebuilding a failed disk. It is probably OK for a mirrored RAID but check the rebuild time.

I settled for a Promise card as I couldn't afford an Adaptec. The time that a disk failed, it rebuilt 300GB in four hours and I would not have noticed the difference if it had not sent me an email.

Opt,

"The time that a disk failed, it rebuilt 300GB in four hours and I would not have noticed the difference "

When you say failed what do you think the failure was? Was it the sort of thing that normally would mean you have lost your boot disk for good. I'd been assuming that when one drive failed the RAID system ran on the other until you replaced the dead one with a fresh drive.

I did not realise that RAID actually repaired disks. That makes the mirror concept much more appealing to a non-techie like me.

TP

TP

To be honest, I don't know why it failed but the controller said it had and rebuilt on the spare. The point is that it worked seamlessly.

The system that I've gone for is a RAID 5. It requires a minimum of 3 disks, and the data is split between all three so that the speed and capacity is approx double that of a single disc. When any one disk fails, the system will still work at reduced speed and the disk set can be rebuilt when the faulty one is replaced or in my case on the fourth disk which is installed as a hot spare.

It's more expensive to set up, but so long as I don't have more than two disks go down or more than one within four hours then the machine will keep working. It doesn't need switching off to replace a disk either.

Opt,

So RAID 5 is an external bit of kit unlike the suggested pair of 500 gig internals.

And naturally much more expensive.

Are you able to boot your PC from the RAID - thus obviating anything that needs to move in your PC?

TP

TP

So RAID 5 is an external bit of kit unlike the suggested pair of 500 gig internals.

In my case yes. I have a headless Win2K machine in the loft that is my main storeage device. The same type of system would run on the motherboard that you mentioned in P6991 but you would need 4 hard disks and I would not recommend it. You really need a good RAID card. Adaptec are the best Promise are not bad but avoid Silicon Image.

The machine does boot from the RAID disk. It has no other disks.

Opt,

RAID is clearly overkill for me.

And yesterday evening some pretty 'iffy' views about Mesh reliability emerged so I am now looking at Dell. I'vd pm'd scussy so we don't start killing this thread with specs!

But I'm sure I'll be back for some more general advice.

SCUSSY - you have a pm.

TP

Oh dear. I am becoming a real bore with my quest for a PC.

But I felt that I really ought to post this industry link.

It's one think to hear the punters grumbling, but when the trade finds out they are being conned......

But then I see this.

So what is one to believe?

Heck !!

TP